In Focus …
Mathematics Education in Malawi
Simeon A. Hau
Malawi is an independent nation in southeastern Africa. The country is 837 km long with a width ranging
from 80 km to 160 km. It has a total area of 118 484 km2
and a population of 8.5 million.
Malawi gained independence from Great Britian in
1964 and since then, it has intensified its efforts on
expanding educational opportunities for Malawians.
Malawi's three-tier education system is comprised of a
primary, secondary, and tertiary level. The primary level,
secondary level, and some institutions at the tertiary level
are centrally controlled by the Ministry of Education and
Culture. The primary school system comprises an eight
year program with an entry qualifying age of six years.
Each year is called a Standard. The secondary school
program is of a four year duration. Each year is called a
Form. Forms 1 and 2 are called junior secondary and
Forms 3 and 4 are senior secondary. The higher education
level comprises technical colleges, primary school teachers’ colleges, nursing schools, and a university that is
controlled by a board of governors.
The University of Malawi, founded in October, 1964,
consists of four constituent colleges: Chancellor College,
offering degrees in the sciences, humanities, administration, law, and education; Bunda College of Agriculture,
offering degrees in agriculture; Polytechnic College, offering degrees in business, engineering, and other technical areas; and Kamuzu College of Nursing, offering
diplomas in nursing. A medical college is currently under
construction.
Primary Mathematics Education
Since Malawi’s independence, mathematics education in the country has undergone several transformations.
The first change came in the 1960s soon after the country’s
independence. It was a short lived modern mathematics
program. Due to the lack of clear information, suitably
prepared teachers, and suitable learning materials, this
program was found to be faulty and thus, people in the
country complained about it. Consequently, in 1972, an
Mr. Hau is a doctoral student at The University of Georgia and
is a native of Malawi. He holds a B. Ed. from the University
of Malawi and an M. S. from Florida State University. His
research interests are in areas of mathematics curriculum and
the implementation of the NCTM Curriculum and Evaluation
Standards for School Mathematics.
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education conference endorsed change from modern mathematics back to traditional mathematics.
In 1980, there was another need to revise the mathematics syllabi in order to accommodate the metric system.
Malawi adopted the metric system on January 1, 1982. The
Malawi Ministry of Education and Culture, recognizing
the importance of mathematics for the country’s future
development, brilliantly handled the conversion. It introduced the international system of units in the school syllabi
and textbooks in 1980, instructing schools to teach this
new system of units and to totally discard the imperial
units. This has been one of the most successful changes
that the education system has implemented.
In 1987, a major curriculum review was initiated. This
was in response to a 1985 - 1995 Education Development
Plan. The major goal of this development plan is to
improve education in order to accommodate the societal
changes that have taken place in Malawi since its independence. An official mathematics teaching syllabus for
primary schools states that “the most recent role of mathematics is to develop mathematical skills applicable in
solving everyday problems” (Malawi Institute of Education, 1990, p. 1). The spirit of the changes brought about
by the recent effort are very well registered in the same
document by the following words:
The current primary Arithmetic syllabus has had
some problems. The first one is the discontinuity in
the development of concepts from one grade level to
the other. … The proposed primary mathematics
intends to rectify the stated problems. It is hoped
that the provision of appropriate learning materials
and use of teaching/learning strategies that promote
learning by investigation. . . The teaching syllabus
has been developed to replace the traditional -teacher
centered [sic] by a more child-centered approach.
(Malawi Institute of Education, 1990, p. 1)
The new mathematics program emphasizes problem
solving and investigations. The implementation of this
new program has been carefully planned. Students in
Standards 1 and 2 are currently following the new program. The Ministry of Education and Culture launched the
new program in 1990 starting with a fresh Standard 1 class
while remaining classes continued to follow the “old”
program. The new program will take eight years to
implement and educators are optimistic of a successful
implementation.
The Mathematics Educator

Secondary Mathematics Education
The secondary school mathematics program has experienced changes similar to the primary school. The mathematics curriculum at this level was influenced by the
modern mathematics movement, the push back to traditional mathematics, and the metrication of the country. In
1985 the Ministry of Education and Culture published a
Teacher’s Guide for Junior Secondary School Mathematics. The current state of Malawi secondary school mathematics education can be determined by studying the
introduction to the Teacher’s guide:
This guide is intended to show teachers how they
can help their students to learn, understand and
enjoy mathematics. It is hoped that the guide will
also assist teachers to get a better understanding of
the subject and so enable them to teach better and
more effectively so that children can ultimately
benefit from the lessons. … The teacher is reminded to always impress upon students the need
for accuracy, neatness and speed. However emphasis on speed should not be such that it causes anxiety
in students. (Malawi Ministry of Education and
Culture 1985, p. 3)
The secondary school mathematics syllabus contains
four subjects: algebra, arithmetic, geometry, and trigonometry. A number of schools teach advanced mathematics. The Ministry is currently moving towards integrating
these subjects.
Tertiary Level Mathematics Education
At the tertiary level, primary school teachers’ colleges
have been the most affected in their mathematics programs
as they responded to the changes in mathematics education
at the primary school level. Rigorous activity took place
in the years 1980 to 1983 under the auspices of United
Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization/
United Nations Development Project (UNESCO/UNDP).
This activity was in the form of a project whose emphasis
was on developing curriculum instructional materials. At
the end of the first phase of the project, the following
curriculum materials had been produced: Teach Metric,
Arithmetic Teaching Syllabus for Primary Schools, Statistics, and Arithmetic Teacher’s Guide for Standard 1.
As for the university, the department of education
responded to the 1985 - 1995 education development plan
by creating a subcommittee on mathematics education in
order to study, analyze, and evaluate the mathematics
education program that was being offered for preparing
secondary school teachers. In May of 1986, the subcommittee comprised of two professors from the Education
Department, a mathematician, and a curriculum developer
Volume 3 Number 1

in mathematics education prepared a document entitled
What Mathematics Must a (Secondary) School Teacher
Know? The subcommittee responded, “As much as
possible” (Subcommittee on Mathematics Education, May,
1986, p. 1). Nevertheless, it identified the following five
categories as essential:
A. Thorough knowledge of the present secondary
school mathematics content.
B. Knowledge of material that may be included in
future syllabi.
C. An appreciation of the application of mathematics.
D. A deeper knowledge and understanding of mathematics related to A and B.
E. Wider knowledge of mathematics in general with
special emphasis on students’ understanding of
what mathematics is.
Conclusion
The school aged population in Malawi is more than 2
million, and Malawi has just introduced free education
(not compulsory) starting with the 1992 Standard 1 class.
Therefore, as mathematics educators look into the future
and consider what to do with the millions of school aged
children, they are challenged with issues of how to provide quality mathematics education to so many. This to
me is the greatest challenge facing mathematics educators. Fortunately, Malawian educators are aware of the
essence of education. As an official of the Malawi
Ministry of Education and Culture put it, “… certain
aspects of our way of life, certain kinds of knowledge,
certain attitudes and values must be regarded as so important that their transmission to the next generation should
not be left to chance in our society” (Malawi Institute of
Education, 1988, p. 3). Is this not what remains when
everything else is done or gone?
References
Malawi Institute of Education. (1988). Report of the primary school
curriculum strategy formulation workshop. Domasi, Malawi:
Malawi Institute of Education.
Malawi Ministry of Education and Culture. (1985). Teacher’s guide
for junior certificate- mathematics. Blantyre, Malawi: Malawi
Correspondence College.
Malawi Ministry of Education and Culture. (1990). Primary school
teaching syllabus- mathematics. Domasi, Malawi: Malawi Institute of Education.
Subcommittee on Mathematics Education. (1986). What mathematics
must a mathematics teacher know? Minutes of the subcommittee,
University of Malawi, Zomba.

4hau

Since Malawi’s independence, mathematics educa- tion in the country has undergone several transformations. The first change came in the 1960s soon after the country’s independence. It was a short lived modern mathematics program. Due to the lack of clear information, suitably prepared teachers, and suitable learning materials, this program was found to be faulty and thus, people in the country complained about it. Consequently, in 1972, an Primary Mathematics Education 16